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The Girls of the Taliban

Najibullah Quraishi
BOLDtalks Woman 2015

No laughing, no music, no dancing, no TV, radio or taking photos. Women must not work outside the home, and every inch of the body must be covered by a black chador, gloves and socks. Males must hide in a booth when women are in the room. The Ashraf-ul Madares madrassa for girls and young women has an ideology even more extreme than the Taliban.

Based in Kunduz, the madrassa already has 6,000 female students, and there are plans to open more branches throughout Afghanistan. As NATO prepares to scale down its military operations this year, is this is the legacy of the West’s intervention for thousands of young Afghan women Najibullah Quraishi discusses his incredible documentary on this matter "The Girls of the Taliban".

Najibullah is an Afghan-British Journalist. His professional career began in Afghanistan, where he worked as producer, reporter and presenter for a weekly television social program “Shahr-e ma, Khana-e ma (Our City, Our Home) for 10 years before moving to the UK.

In 2002 after successfully collaborating on the film ‘Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death’, in the same year he won The Rory Peck Impact and Sony International Award for a film about the SAS in Afghanistan.

Since he moved to the UK in 2002, he works as director, reporter and cameraman as well as chief investigator for documentary films in Asia and Arab countries for Clover Films.

In 2009 Najibullah Quraishi setup his own company “Quraishi Films”. Since then he produced several films and won many awards including the Alfred I DuPont Award 2011 (the ‘broadcast Pulitzer’, presented by the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University); the History Makers Award 2011 for ‘Best Current Affairs Documentary’; One World Media Award ‘Best Documentary’ 2010; BAFTA nomination ‘Best Documentary’ 2010; AIB (Association of International Broadcasters) Award ‘Best Current Affairs Documentary’ 2010; AIB Award ‘Best Investigative Documentary’ 2010; UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival); Winner of the Rory Peck and Sony International Impact awards(twice, 2002 and 2010) ‘Best Documentary Award’ 2010; Grierson Award: Shortlisted for ‘Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue’ 2010, OverSea Press Award in 2012 and The Emmy award in 2013.

His most recent works include ‘The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan’, a series of films for PBS, WNET/Wide Angle (women in war and peace); Behind Taliban Lines (Channel 4, Frontline), Fighting for Osama (Frontline), Opium Brides (PBS Frontline), Children Of The Taliban (Channel 4 and ZDF), On the Other Side Of War (Channel 4 news), Landslide (PBS), Growing Up Behind Bars (Aljazeera English), The Lion’s Last Roar (BBC2) and The Taliban Girls (Aljazeera English) in 2014.

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